92% of the reason why it sucks to be brazilian
92% of the reason why it sucks to be brazilian
Yes, you're looking at ~92% tax right there. Final price jumped from ~113 dollars (584BRL) to ~220 dollars.
EDIT: A bit of clarification, when buying from abroad there's a flat 60% federal tax if the thing + shipping price surpasses 50 dollars. Then there's a state tax that can vary between 17-25%, which goes on top of the total taxed value. Part of the tax is literally "tax of a tax"
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Pakistan coming in with 50% phone tax +
18%25% luxury item sales tax + 50% customs duty + 7% service fee + cash money you need to bribe customs to release your package + shipping & handlingAnd I thought I had it bad in Germany (knew about brazilian already) with shipping + 19% import tax + 6€ import handling by DHL.
Fortunately no 6€ handling fee for sellers using IOSS, like AliExpress.
19% import tax
That's import VAT, that is, if you import something they want to make sure that you're paying the same 19% VAT as if someone else had imported it and then sold to you. Doesn't apply to stuff under 22 Euro as the paperwork would cost them more than you owe.
There's also import tariffs though most stuff, and in particular most electronics, don't have any tariff applied, these are EU single market tariffs and not German in particular. The currently largest one seems to be e-bikes from specifically China, a total of 80% as an anti-dumping measure. Under usual circumstances tariffs tend to be under 20%, shoes with uppers from stuff other than leather about 17%, 10% on cars, 4% on leather clothing, lots of such stuff.
AliExpress really has that stuff figured out, they're not fighting it any more, tons of issues in the past with Chinese sellers mis-labelling stuff to "save me money" which only meant that they got shitbinned by the Zoll and every single one of their parcels intercepted and inspected. They now have warehouses in the EU and do all the import handling when stocking them which means that the customer doesn't have to interact with customs at all and orders arrive in a day or three.
In these areas where bribes are so commonplace for all manner of interactions I just can't help but wonder how it goes on so long without anyone being desperate enough and wild enough to just pull a gun or a knife and basically say, "My bribe payment to you is just do your damn job and I let you live."
Or I guess maybe that does happen and then those people get disappeared.
In India, usually they don't demand a bribe. They will process your file slowly, with the understanding that you can speed it up by bribing them.
From what I understand, Pakistan does not properly regulate weapons. But it would still be rather stupid to threaten a public servant. If you are that sort of person, smiling at the official and remarking on his good health might be a better idea. A less aggressive trick is to let them think that you are from the press / have a camera or microphone / have marked currency.
Have you heard that concept from sociology that the state, through its officials and representatives, holds exclusive rights to legitimately use violence?